Dear Mr. Robson : -

     Enclosed are some highlights on the Manual and Technical work of the Province.

     Trust they will be of some assistance to you.

         Yours sincerely

                 John Kyle

In 1900 Mr. Harry Dunhill came out from England to establish manual training under Sir William Macdonald's Scheme. Mr. Dunhill was allocated to British Columbia, taught in Victoria, and supervised the work in Vancouver.

In 1903 Mr. Dunhill was appointed Provincial Inspector of Manual training.

In 1906 I came to Vancouver to be Supervisor of Drawing in the Schools of Vancouver. Mr. Northrop was Supervisor of Manual Training.

Very soon I saw the advisability of having Night Schools, and the Manual Training Instructors were the first to respond. The Manual Training Centres were soon occupied night and day.

The Board of School Trustees in Vancouver appointed me Organizer of Night Schools, in addition to my duties as Supervisor of Art.

In 1914 I was appointed Provincial Director of Technical Education.

In my report of 1914 - 15 you will find the following : -

"It is exceedingly gratifying to state that considerable interest is being aroused throughout the Province on Night Schools. School Trustees are gradually recognizing that it is poor policy to have their public buildings standing empty at nights, while the workers who are most alive to their deficiencies in education are left outside."

At this time there were 38 wood working centres in the province, 36 instructors, 5652 students.

1. There were no Teacher Training classes for Instructors.
2. There were no Technical Option Courses in High Schools as the subjects were not then considered worthy of recognition by the university authorities.
3. There was no School of Decorative and Applied Arts in the Province.
4. There were no Correspondence Courses.

In 1936 after 22 years, there were 93 Manual Training Centres, 80 Instructors, 14317 Students,

There were Teacher Training Courses for Manual Instructors
Technical Option Courses in High Schools
A School of Decorative and Applied Art
and Correspondence Courses.

Cities	Municipalities
Armstrong	Burnaby
Chilliwack	Chilliwack
Courtenay	Esquimalt
Cranbrook	Maple Ridge
Cumberland	Penticton
Kelowna	Point Grey
Nanaimo	Pitt Meadows
New Westminster	Richmond
Nelson	Summerland
North Vancouver	South Vancouver
Prince Rupert	Surrey
Port Moody	West Vancouver
Rossland	Rutland
Trail	Harewood
Vancouver	South Wellington
Victoria	Cassidy
Vernon

According to a report from the Dominion Director of Technical Education, the Province of British Columbia ranks fifth in the Dominion for the Cost of Administration; while it stands 2nd in the Dominion for the number of Day Technical Classes; 2nd for the number of Night Schools. 3rd for the number of students attending Night Schools, and 2nd for the work in teacher-training.

In 1916 The Vancouver Board of School trustees started the first Prevocational School.
         There were 141 students
         78 boys
         63 girls

The academic work was grouped around the hand work.

The boys made their own work benches, drafting table; drawing boards; t-squares; tables; chairs, and a roll-top desk for the teacher.

They also made windows and doors for a new centre which they proposed to build but which unfortunately did not materialize.

In 1921 The Labour Temple was purchased for a Technical School

In 1926 The New Technical School was built.

In 1926 A Provincial Director of Home Economics was appointed.

I retired in 1938.